Established in 1903, The Eskdale Festival of the Arts is held in Whitby every March to help inspire and create opportunities for young people in music, drama, dance, art and speech. More recently we also started running an annual choir day and jazz lunch which over the last few years has been quite popular. Although we were held up by Covid in 2020-21, we are working on building up the festival to its original strength, and hope to welcome as many of you as possible as participants or supporters over the coming years!!
Keep in Touch….
We post regular updates on what we are doing on this website, Facebook and Instagram page so please follow us there to stay up to date on what we are doing!! We are also starting blog via email, so please sign up on the right hand side of the page to receive updates straight into your inbox. You can click on the icons below to take you directly to our social media pages…
Our Key Upcoming Dates…
2023 Festival Dates:
Band Competition: Saturday 11th March, 2023
Boyes Gala Concert: Friday 17th March, 2023
Speech and Drama: Tuesday 7th and Wednesday 8th March, 2023
Dance Day: Sunday 12th March, 2023
Music (Primary Schools): Monday 13th to Wednesday 15th March, 2023
Music (Secondary Schools): Thursday 9th and Friday 10th March, 2023
National Choir Day: Saturday 15th April, 2023
We update our dates for the following year every September!!
Latest News:
Choir Day – 2022!!
Please find attached the outline programme for the Eskdale Festival Choir Day on the 9th of April, 2022. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to get in touch either through facebook, instagram or via email at: eskdalefestival@gmail.com.
Festival 2022 Program
Please find the dates and times of the Eskdale Festival 2022 classes below in pdf format.
Great News…
We have just made the Eskdale Festival syllabus for 2022 available to download on our website! Just head over to the “competition syllabus” part of our website to download a section or the full version. Please note that the closing date for all entries is the 14th of January, 2022. We look forward to welcoming… More
Virtual Jazz Lunch Available Now!!
Coronavirus has stopped live gigs, but it has not stopped us making music!! The “Virtual Jazz Lunch” is available to watch now by clicking here!! The Incorporated Society of Musicians is a charity who help musicians in need. They’ve done a lot of work throughout the pandemic to support musicians who haven’t been able to work so if you… More
Eskdale Festival Jazz Lunch to go ahead – virtually
The Eskdale Festival, which normally fills the Spa Pavilion with music, drama and song in March every year, had to be cancelled, but the committee members were determined that talented musicians from the area should still have the opportunity to perform. Local music teacher Bob Butterfield and former Eskdale School student Zak Parlby decided to… More
Jazz Lunch 2021
Exciting Update! The Virtual Jazz Lunch will be available to watch on 11th April on the website and facebook page! More details will be announced soon!
Virtual Jazz Lunch 2021
Exciting News!!! The festival has not gone!! We’re currently working on moving the annual jazz lunch online and will be available to watch for free from April!! As usual, it will contain local jazz musicians and will include lots of original arrangements of jazz standards. With this being said, the 2021 competition is cancelled however,… More
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URGENT UPDATE: National Choir Day
DUE TO THE CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK WE HAVE UNFORTUNATELY HAD TO CANCEL THE NATIONAL CHOIR DAY (18TH APRIL 2020) Our best wishes to all those who were looking forward to the day. We look forward to seeing you all at the festival in 2021.
Choir Day 2018
Eighteen Adult Choirs at Whitby Pavilion Whitby Spa Theatre and Pavilion will be bursting at the seams on Saturday 7th April when eighteen adult choirs arrive to participate in the National Choir Day. This is the final event of the Eskdale Festival of the Arts 2018 season and it should be a musical feast. “It’s… More
Choir Day Running Order
choir day running order 2018
Eskdale Festival 2018
Planning for next year’s festival is underway and chairman Dave Bradley is very excited about the future. “We had a very successful Festival in 2017 with lots of local schools taking part and several schools from Scarborough and Ryedale. Our National Choir Day in April attracted fourteen adult choirs from across the north of England (the largest number so… More
Another successful Festival!
Well done to all of the performers who took part in the Festival this year! The Boyes Gala Concert will be at 6.30pm on Saturday 11th March at the Pavilion. Admission: Children free; Adults £6. A message from Dave Bradley, Chairman: There has been a lovely atmosphere at the Festival this year. Although it is… More
This weekend at the Eskdale Festival!
It’s looking a little rainy in Whitby, so why not pop down to the Pavilion for a musical weekend! Tomorrow (Saturday 4th March) is the band competition, in which various bands from the local area and further afield will be participating. And on Sunday, there is a jazz lunch in the Pavilion cafe at 12.30.
Eskdale Festival AGM
The Eskdale Festival AGM will take place on Thursday 30th June at 7.15pm at Hawsker Methodist Chapel. Anyone interested in having a say or hearing more about how the Eskdale Festival is organised and run is welcome.
Workshops with Storyteller Fran O’Boyle
The “Spoken Word” competition of the Eskdale Festival of the Arts 2016 will be kick-started by professional storyteller Fran O’Boyle when he works with secondary and primary students on Tuesday March 1st at Eskdale School. Fran has worked as a storyteller for many years and frequently does workshops in schools and appears at a variety of literary and folk events… More
Tremendous local support for the Eskdale Festival
Planning for the Eskdale Festival of the Arts 2016 is well underway and Chairman, Dave Bradley, is delighted with the support local people have offered. The Whitby and District Rotary Club have offered three £50 prizes for competitors of primary school age in the solo vocal, instrumental and piano classes. Three further awards are presented to secondary age… More
Exciting developments for the 2016 festival…
Last year we broadened our festival by including a Big Band Competition on the final Saturday and working in collaboration with Musicport so that some of our ablest young musicians could work with professional musicians. This year we intend develop these initiatives even further and we also hope to develop some drama and storytelling workshops… More
2016 Festival Syllabus now available
The syllabus for the festival in March 2016 is now available. Please click here to view it, or email eskdalefestival@gmail.com to request a copy.
eskdalefestival.com 
Good Afternoon — My name is Peter Beetham and I am the Secretary of Rossendale Male Voice Choir.
If it is not too late we would be interested in applying to enter the Eskdale Choral Festival in April.
Could you please let me know either by E Mail or on my mobile: 07808 733892
Many thanks.
Peter Beetham
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Hi Peter, unfortunately our website has been out of action until now and only just seen you message sorry about only getting back to until now. Normally our entries must be in around mid-January. The website is now back up and running so if you are wanting to compete in 2021 then the information will be up later this year.
Many Thanks
Eskdale Festival
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